Tales of the Jedi Council - The Sith Historian
by Master Windu
Summary: The Jedi Council must decide if the young man before them is the galaxy's salvation or ruin.


Disclaimer: This story is based up on material created by   
George Lucas and owned by LucasFilm, Ltd. It contains   
references to places and belief systems from the Star Wars   
saga. It contains characters created by Lucas and other   
Star Wars writers. The events depicted herein were created   
by this writer. These events are owned by this writer as is   
this story. It may be freely redistributed or reproduced as   
long as no alterations are made. **The series title of this   
story may be used only with permission from the writer.**  
  
  
Tales of the Jedi Council: The Sith Historian  
A young man comes before the Jedi Council. They must decide   
whether he is the galaxy's salvation or ruin. Written with   
specific interest in the nature of the Force.  
  
  
Title: Tales of the Jedi Council: The Sith Historian  
Chronology: Many Years Before The Phantom Menace  
Spoilers: None  
Author: Mike Milburn masterwindu@starwarsemail.com  
  
  
Characters: (please read)  
Mace Windu  
Yoda  
Yarael Poof - Quermian (invertebrate) Jedi Master. (The guy   
with the long neck)  
Plo Koon - Alien Jedi Master and courageous fighter.  
Depa Billaba - Female human Jedi Master trained by Mace   
Windu  
Eeth Koth - Zabrak Jedi Master from Nar Shadaa  
Adi Gallia - Human Jedi Master daughter of Corellian   
diplomats on Coruscant.  
Oppo Rancisis - Jedi Master from Thisspias with a military   
mind.  
Even Piell - Jedi Master and Lannik warrior  
Yaddle - Female Jedi Master of the same species as Yoda.  
Saesee Tiin - Iktotchi Jedi Master with natural telepathic   
abilities.  
Ki-Adi-Mundi - Ceran Jedi Knight with a binary brain.  
  
  
"This is the clue we need to unravel the mystery of   
the Sith."  
-Jedi Master Mace Windu, Senior Member of the Jedi   
Council  
  
  
  
The Jedi Master Yarael Poof subconsciously swayed his   
boneless neck as his mind succumbed to the Jedi Council   
meditation session. As he closed his eyes, the Quermian's   
sight was replaced by a thousand other senses. The Force   
not only saw all, but felt all, _was_ all. It was all that   
Yarael could focus on. The Force was flowing like an   
unconquerable ocean upon the Jedi Council Chamber, as his   
fellow council members stretched out in their Jedi senses.   
Even alone, Yarael's mind was immersed in the Force,   
but meditating with his colleagues increased the intimacy   
twelve-fold. He moved his essence among their spirits,   
utilizing the Force as a mystical conduit. As his mind   
scattered upon the other council members, Yarael borrowed   
their good-natured attributes and added them to his own,   
improving his character with every telepathic visitation.   
He learned a lesson of patience from Mistress Yaddle's soul   
in a conversation that never happened on any plane of   
existence. Master Even Piell showed Yarael yet another true   
meaning of courage, not through a memory, but simply in the   
life patterns of the Lannik warrior's spirit. Yarael even   
dared to let his mind behold that ancient consciousness of   
Master Yoda. His spirit was so detailed, eight centuries of   
time tracing unlinear designs of being upon the Jedi   
Master's soul. Yarael feared he might get lost in the vast   
intricacies of Yoda's essence had he been meditating alone,   
without the strength of his fellow council members.   
  
But there was something odd in Yoda. Different, out   
of place. It was subtle, somewhere in the murky depths of   
the old Jedi's soul. Yarael isolated his focus on less and   
less of Yoda until all that was left in his concentration   
was that inconsistency in the senior Jedi Master. Yarael   
reached in and identified it. It felt like an emotion.   
Yes... it was an emotion. Yarael focused on it and set his   
mind to translating the feeling from an emotion to a literal   
thought. He had to change the patterns, the spirit-hues,   
from this raw form into something more understandable.  
  
"Foreboding, it is," Yoda spoke, breaking the silence,   
not to mention the group's meditation. Mistress Adi let go   
a small gasp. Apparently her mind had not been prepared to   
leave its former condition so quickly.  
  
Master Windu looked inquisitively at Yoda. "What's   
this about foreboding?" he asked.  
  
"I am sawwy, Masta Yoda," Yarael apologized.   
Apparently, Master Yoda did not like being mind-probed.  
  
Yoda, his stare never leaving Yarael, answered Windu,   
"Master Yarael has sensed an emotion in me."  
  
Master Windu looked at Yarael with a look of slight   
admiration. "That is quite an accomplishment, Master   
Yarael. Rarely can I myself look into Yoda's mind, much   
less find an emotion there."  
  
Yarael nodded his elevated head in gratitude.   
Inwardly, he appalled the attention, though. Master Yoda   
wasn't used to having his mind probed, and obviously did not   
appreciate it.  
  
"Master Yoda," Depa Billaba spoke, "why do you have   
foreboding?"  
  
Yoda let his gaze drift to the rest of the council,   
finally freeing Yarael from his stare. "Get anxious rarely,   
do I," he explained in the low, gruffer tone he only used   
for situations of the utmost danger. "But today, reason, I   
have. In a few minutes, come before us, a stranger will."  
  
"I was not notified of such an appointment," Master  
Oppo Rancisis informed the council with a hint of   
complaint in his voice.  
  
"Kept it from you, I did. Even to Master Windu, was   
it unknown."  
  
That was odd. Rarely did Yoda keep something from   
Master Windu, his fellow senior council member. A lesser   
human might have protested this, but Master Windu kept his   
focus and asked, "Why is this stranger you speak of coming   
before us?"  
  
"Leave that for him to explain, I will," Master Yoda   
replied as he gestured to the chamber entrance. There   
Yarael beheld a human male perhaps Adi Gallia's age. It was   
difficult to tell with humans.  
  
"Greetings, Masters," the man addressed the council,   
as he approached the center of the chamber. He seemed to   
have an air of confidence about him, skipping the ceremonial   
bow.  
  
"Greetings," Master Windu replied. "What is the   
nature of your visit?" He leaned back in his chair and put   
the tips of his fingers together in his traditional   
listening position.  
  
The young man shot a glance at Yoda. "I see Master   
Yoda has not chosen to tell you of my business here. I am   
here to ask permission to study the artifacts and writings   
of the Sith."  
  
Yarael widened his eyes as a treacherous volley of   
uneasy looks enveloped the council. Yaddle even let out a   
slight gasp.  
  
"Masters, let me explain," the man, the _Sith   
Historian_, beckoned with some slight arrogance.  
  
"Run this discussion, you will not," Yoda reprimanded.   
  
The Sith Historian fell silent, but his look of self-  
assurance was not erased. Still, Yarael was glad Yoda had   
at least put the man in his place.  
  
"I must say," Saesee Tiin spoke, "why ever would you   
want to study the Sith?"  
  
"Unless you wish to become one..." Ki-Adi-Mundi   
finished, taking the words right out of Yarael's mouth.  
  
The Sith Historian's voice was steady. "I assure you,   
that is not at all my motive. As you all can see, I am a   
historian. Lately, I have found my occupation, a bit...   
pointless. We historians always say the purpose of our work   
is to prevent history from repeating its mistakes. While   
this _is_ my goal, I find the galaxy's traditional history   
that I study to be rather unhelpful towards this goal."  
  
"You wish to study the Sith because you are bored with   
your career?" Master Oppo hissed. Yarael could sense   
everyone in the council getting more defensive, even   
irritable.  
  
"Again, you misjudge me," the Sith Historian accused.  
  
"Rarely wrong, is the council's judgment," Yoda   
interrupted. "Say 'misjudge' with caution, should you."  
  
"I am sorry," the Sith Historian apologized cordially.   
"You see, I want to study the ways of the Sith so that   
there re-appearance may be prevented."  
  
"You wish to defend the galaxy from a resurgence of   
the Sith by learning about them?" Master Windu inquired.  
  
"Hmmm..." Yoda sighed. "Used for defense, Sith   
knowledge has never been," he commented.  
  
The Sith Historian didn't seem to notice Yoda's words.   
"By knowing the methods of the Sith, you will find it easier   
to identify certain Jedi students as dangerous."  
  
"We already know what is dangerous," Master Windu   
informed the man.  
  
Yoda nodded. "Anger, fear, aggression. Need to know   
more, we do not."  
  
"I believe you _do_ need to know more," the Sith   
Historian explained. "You can identify a student in danger   
of the Dark Side, but a student specifically in danger of   
falling to the Sith might be harder to detect."  
  
"He does have a point," Master Oppo explained. Yarael   
and the other council members turned to him in disbelief.   
"When in a war, it is always best to know your opponent."   
Coming from Oppo's trusted military mind, Yarael knew the   
comment would carry great weight among the council members.  
  
"But we're not in a war," Mistress Adi pointed out.   
"The Sith have been extinct for a millennium."  
  
"I am asking for a chance to help make sure things   
stay that way," the Sith Historian explained.  
  
Yarael could feel the other council member's thought   
patterns becoming more and more parallel to that of the Sith   
Historian. The very idea of the Sith ever returning to the   
galaxy was enough justification for many of Yarael's   
colleagues.  
  
"How do we know that this will not lead to the   
resurgence you so wish to prevent," Master Koth inquired.   
"If the information you learn was stolen, the galaxy could   
be in much greater danger than before this study of yours."  
  
"I will work right here at the Jedi Temple where the   
Sith records are locked away and never have them leave this   
place," the historian assured the council. "I will submit   
my findings as a report of things to look for in students   
who may have Sith curiosities."  
  
"How do we know that your motives are what you speak   
and not to obtain the power of the Sith teachings yourself?"   
Ki-Adi-Mundi questioned. Yarael could sense that half of the   
Ceran's binary brain was becoming convinced, but the other   
part was highly suspicious.  
  
The Sith Historian made eye contact with different   
members of the council as he told them, "If anything I have   
ever read about the Jedi Council is true, you already know   
whether or not my intentions are genuine."  
  
One by one, the council members tried to find hints of   
falsehood in the Sith Historian's mind. Not even Saesee   
Tiin, who had natural telepathic abilities as well as the   
Force, could find a trace of untruth in the human. At last,   
it was Yarael's turn, and he reached out cautiously into the   
historian's essence. Yarael had expected it to be highly   
insulated by various mental barriers, but subconsciously,   
the Sith Historian had given Yarael easy and open access to   
his mind. Yarael traveled among its matterless passages,   
searching for a lie. Searching for at least something   
twisted, or ugly. But there was no such unholiness in the   
Sith Historian's mind. His intentions were genuine and   
maybe even what the galaxy needed.  
  
The Sith historian's study could finally seal off any   
conduit to Sith power for those who would want to use it.   
The understanding of Sith techniques could flush out all   
potential Siths training at the Jedi Temple. Yarael knew   
that if the Sith Historian was permitted to do his job, the   
galaxy would never again fear the dark wishes of a Sith   
Lord.  
  
And so the council voted. It was almost unanimously   
in favor of the Sith Historian, with Yoda, having his usual   
overabundant skepticisms, being the only council member who   
voted no. Even Ki-Adi-Mundi, who had carried great   
suspicion, had seen the truth and goodness inside the   
historian.  
  
The Sith Historian was very grateful. "Thank you,   
Masters. I assure you, the knowledge will be safe with me,   
and the galaxy will be safer for it."  
  
"When shall you begin?" Master Windu asked in a rare   
moment of enthusiasm.  
  
"Soon after a short trip home, if that's alright," the   
historian explained.  
  
"Certainly," Master Windu agreed. "By the way, if we   
need to reach you, where is your home planet?"  
  
The Sith Historian was happy to answer. "Naboo."  
  
  
  
  
_Please don't put spoilers for this story in your comments.   
Thank you_  



End file.
